Current News – 8-21-19

Holly Meriweather – It was a brand new way of
fundraising, something that Harvest Gleaner Hour Executive Director Paul
Bearfield heard about while attending a conference in 1980. It had been very
successful for raising money for ministries and organizations, so he came back
from the conference excited to try it. It was called a “walk-a-thon.” The idea
was that prior to the event, participants would gather sponsors to give an
amount of their choice for every mile walked. For the first three years of the
Harvest Gleaner Hour Walk-a-thon, as it was called in the beginning, that
number of miles was 20. That only lasted
until 1983, when the official number of miles was reduced to 20 kilometers
(12.4 miles) then 10 miles in 1998. Now, if churches even have a walk at all, 3
miles is the standard.

*Mass Shootings — What’s a Christian to Do? (pg. 1)

John Babler • Baptist Press -When I heard the news about another
mass shooting, this time at an El Paso Walmart, I was deeply saddened. When
less than 13 hours later there was another mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, I was
stunned.As an emergency services
chaplain in such shootings in the past, I know how devastating and chaotic
these traumatic events are. The emotional, spiritual and physical consequences
dramatically impact victims, witnesses, family members, first responders and
communities.As the threat of these
events becomes ever more common, many thoughts may surround one’s reflections.
For example, they can invoke fear and cause people to think about day-to-day
life differently.

*This Place is Getting Wicked! (pg. 1)

Anders Lee, Church
Planter, Southaven, Miss. – (via Mississippi Baptist) I know you
all have been paying attention, and you don’t need me to tell you know how
wicked this place is getting. You are not uninformed and ignorant about the
status of our country; I know you watch the news. Yet I have a point, so please
read the article to the end.We have
an openly gay married man running for president of the United States. South
Bend, Indiana’s Mayor, Pete Buttigieg, has entered the 2020 race for president.
He announced his intentions with a video featuring scenes of him and his
husband, Chasten, cooking and playing with their dog, Buddy. CNN news says it’s
a “Big Deal” and that it will “further the cause of the LGBT movement” more
than anything before it. This place is getting wicked!

*Massive Censorship (pg. 1)

“A Google staffer released documents Aug. 14,
exposing a massive censorship campaign where the ubiquitous Google search
engine purposefully censored pro-life and conservative web sites, including
LifeNews.com,” said Steven Ertelt in a LifeNews report. “Google Insider Zachary
Vorhies has given an interview to watchdog group Project Veritas where he
discusses how he documented Google censorship of leading pro-life and
conservative web sites for over a year. He made the decision to go public in an
on-the-record video interview after Google went after him following the release
of the information to Project Veritas.” He decided to go public after receiving
a letter from Google, and after he says Google allegedly called the police to
perform a “wellness check” on him. Along with the interview, Vorhies asked
Project Veritas to publish more of the internal Google documents he had
previously leaked. (lifenews.com)

*Enough Savings to Retire? (pg.
8)

Dana
Anspach (via Ministers Resource Services) -Do you have enough to retire? If you really want to know, you’ll
need to do some personal calculations based on when you want to retire, and how
much you want to spend while in retirement. To get a rough estimate walk
through the five steps below and in five minutes you can come up with a simple
yes or no answer. Here is an
overview of a simple five-step calculation you can use to determine if you’ll
have enough income and savings to cover your expenses in retirement:

Student-Led Discipleship Program
Leaders Announced (pg. 2)

Terry Kimbrow – Central Baptist College is pleased to announce that the
student leaders for the Fall 2019 discipleship program are Kaylyn Shankle and
Gage Spriggs. The discipleship program is a student-led program facilitated
through Director of Church Relations, Duffy Guyton. All students are invited to
attend an informational event and sign up to participate in a D-Group on
Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 2 p.m. in front of the Burgess Auditorium. When asked
what his and Shankle’s heart is concerning student-led discipleship at Central
Baptist College, Spriggs said, “It wasn’t an opportunity that was handed to us,
we saw a need for it. Kaylyn and I have both been influenced by Discipleship…
We want to encourage intimacy with God. We want those that we are discipling to
be able to read the Word and walk with Him on their own. We also want to create
brotherhood and sisterhood because we see that community is super, super
important. The incredible thing is that almost everyone that is led to Jesus is
led through community.” (Also see CBC Basketball Schedule on page 2 and photo
collage on page 4)

The
CBC Experience (pg. 2)

Dan
Carson – This past Saturday, I dropped off my daughter at Central Baptist
College, where she will be spending the next four years making friends,
embracing her calling and getting a great education. Dropped off — that
sounds like it was just the start of an average school day. Saturday was
anything but average. I “dropped off” my baby at a school three hours away
from my home where she will live for the next nine months. It was a bittersweet
day. However, any sting I was struggling with quickly evaporated when I really
thought about where I was leaving her. Central Baptist College has been a very
special place for my family over the years. Temple graduated with her Associate
of Arts degree in 1992, and I finished my Bachelor of Arts degree in 1995.

Face
Your Limits (pg. 3)

Larry Barker -There is a leadership principle that I have heard in conferences
and read in leadership books that says, “Lead out of your strengths, and forget
about your weaknesses.” There is wisdom in that, and this is not meant to
dispute that principle completely because of the focus of the teaching when it
was said. We should be challenged, though, to recognize the truth that we all
have limitations — yes, we have weaknesses. Biblically, we are told that God
gets the glory through our weaknesses. In II Cor. 12:9-10 (HCSB), Paul said: “But He
said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for
you, for poweris perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so
that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses… For
when I am weak, then I am strong.” You are not called to ignore your weaknesses, but to
surrender them to the One who strengthens you. The question has to be asked,
“How do we bring the most glory to God? Leading out of our strengths or leading
out of our weaknesses?”

We Really Will Work Until Jesus
Comes (pg. 3)

John
Yeats • Baptist Press – I’ve sung that old Gospel song for most of my
life. When I’m busy on a project, I find myself singing or whistling the tune.
For me, work is a positive opportunity. I like work.We will work till Jesus comes.God made people in such a way that work is something every person is
equipped and gifted to do. Our work is important to God. Our work is as much a
part of living under the Lordship of Christ as any other activity in life.

Trumpet
Notes (pg. 4)

High
School Sports And Transgender Athletes; Bibles to be Exempt From Tariff Hike;
New Rule to Protect Religious Liberty Praised

State
Ladies Retreat

The State Ladies Retreat — Sept. 20-21 at
Budd Creek Camp — is going to be an exciting time of fellowship, worship
and studying God’s Word together. This is one I don’t think you will want to
miss! Our speaker, Jaclyn Rowe, will be leading us to what she has entitled, “Raise the
Roof by Raising the Bar.” The topic will be on taking our faith to new heights,
pressing in even more and discovering and learning more about who God is and
allowing Him to do more in us and through us than we think possible. We will be
challenged to throw out complacency and the familiar to rediscover the
adventure it is to walk with the Lord!

So You’re On The Pulpit Committee? (pg. 6)

Dr. Tony Cleaver
-God does have a way to get our
attention, and our fellow church members do sometimes get even with us
— you have been placed on the Pulpit Committee! Wow, what a task!Set aside time to pray more than once
a day about what you are doing because it is so very important to the life of
your congregation and it cannot be handled any other way than through the
unction of the Holy Spirit. May there of His presence fall on you as you serve
on the Pulpit Committee/Pastor Search Team!

Live Churches, Dead Churches (pg. 6)

Live churches
have lots of noisy youth and children. Dead churches are relatively quiet. Live churches are planning for future growth.
Dead churches are reliving the past. Live churches focus on people. Dead
churches focus on programs.

Basis For A Good Pastor/Church Relationship (pg. 6)

The Late Editor David Tidwell – It is in the best interest of the church and pastor to achieve a good working relationship. It is much
easier to start with the
proper foundation for a good relationship than it is to repair a bad situation. If the church has certain requirements the pastor must meet,
then by all means let the preacher know when he receives
the call. If the preacher feels he
requires more salary, or a larger parsonage,
he would be wise to tell the church before he
accepts the call. The matter of salary should
be openly and frankly discussed. Like most everything else caught up in these
inflationary times, churches would do well to take a new look at the salary being paid
the pastor. The pastor has the right to live on the same economic
level as his congregation.

Getting
a Grip on our Emotions (pg. 7)

Paul White (Guilt: Part 1 of 3) -Earlier this year I began a series of
articles dealing with how to get and keep control of our emotions. I have
decided to continue that series over the next few weeks. If you would like a
copy of that first lesson concerning worry from back in April, I would be glad
to email them to you. My email address is above. Beginning today, our topic is
“how to deal with guilt.” Jesus came that we might have real peace, a peace
that passes understanding. “For God sent
His Son into the world not to condemn the world; but that the world through Him
might be saved” (John 3:17).Guilt
is a common emotional problem confronting Christians today. Believers feel
beaten down or overwhelmed by it. Dwelling on their inadequacies and failures,
they fret about their weaknesses. They would like to undo the past, but know
they cannot. When they look around, everyone else seems to be happy and carefree,
while they are burdened down by haunting feelings of wrongdoing.

We’re Likewise Called (pg. 7)

Christian Phan -Spreading the Gospel is a special call.In Romans 1, Paul the apostle said he was redeemed by Jesus to
preach the Gospel. The Lord Jesus Himself called Paul to be an apostle,
separated unto the Gospel of God.This
was Paul’s experience when he was going to Damascus to persecute the followers
of Jesus (Acts 9). He became a servant of Jesus Christ because God redeemed him
from sin. We are likewise called to spread the Gospel for our generation just
as Paul was for his generation. Let us remember:

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